Conjuration With Umbrellas (雨伞招魂术)

In Taoist ritual, both soul banner (招魂幡) and umbrella can be used to summon a lost soul. The difference is that conjuration with a soul banner is a more formal way to call up a lost soul and it is used by orthodox Taoist mainly for deliverance services. Many Chinese believe if a person died outside of his/her house due to accident, then his/her soul must be summoned using a soul banner together with his/her worn clothing or the person’s soul may become wandering spirit and haunts the place where he/she meets his/her doom.

On the other hand, a sorcerer would prefer to use an umbrella or more to perform soul summoning rituals for various purposes. Below method is a fairly simple but dangerous way to gather lost souls of a place that I would like to share here. Of course, the below method can be used to summon the soul of a person if the sorcerer’s mind power is strong enough:

First, a person need to buy or make 8 numbers of umbrellas of any sizes and arranged as shown above. He/she also need to gather some joss paper (溪钱) for opening the portal to the spiritual realm; and of course the standard incense, candles, food offerings etc.

At the place of interest, the umbrellas are opened up and propped up as shown and the person should stand in the centre holding some joss papers. When the time is right, the person must stand in the centre of the umbrella array holding some joss papers. He/she should first walk to the east and throw some joss papers into the air and shouts: “I am opening the spiritual gate towards the east!” After that the person should take an about turn and return to the centre. He/she should do the same with the south, west and north.

When all of the four directions are done, the sorcerer should sit in the centre and pay attention to the umbrellas. After a while, if the spirits give reactions to the summoning; then one or more of the umbrellas will move or topple. At this point, this ritual is considered to be successful. The sorcerer should quickly walk in a counter clockwise direction starting from the south to collect the fallen umbrella(s) and close it. The sorcerer must walk a full circle and then take the nearest exit made by the toppled umbrella.

It is believed that one or more souls are trapped in the umbrella(s), at this point the person can bring the umbrella back for further ritual, or throw it into the river to get rid of the spirits.

The directions of the umbrellas will give a tell-tale signs of the gender of the spirits too:

North – middle age man

Northeast – young man

East – elder man

Southeast – elder woman

South – middle age woman

Southwest – granny

West – young woman

Northwest – grandpa

However, if this umbrella ritual is used to catch the soul of an enemy, then it is sufficed just to face the direction of the person’s house using one umbrella.

Lastly, only try this ritual if you think you can handle the spirits please.